Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

“Tonight? I did receive the order,” he said, pulling out a screenshot of the order on his phone, “but I couldn’t get through to the customer on the phone, so I waited on the 18th floor for ten minutes and then left.” Wang Shuai zoomed in on the order details, and the delivery address clearly showed “Room 1808”—the very floor where the elevator that Li Zhiyuan was responsible for maintaining was malfunctioning.

During interviews with shops around the building, a convenience store owner's recollection brought a turning point: "That night, around 11 p.m., a man in a suit bought a bottle of mineral water," he pointed to the surveillance footage, "His walking posture was strange; he kept pressing his left arm with his right hand, and there were oil stains on his cuffs." The figure in the footage was elongated by the streetlights, and although the face was not clearly visible, the body shape was extremely similar to the deceased.

Back in the property management office, Wang Shuai laid out all the clues on the table. Li Zhiyuan's alibi was riddled with holes: the unusual takeout orders, the convenience store's surveillance footage, the cufflinks and fibers found at the scene—all the pieces seemed to point to this tech department employee. But when his bank statements and communication records were retrieved, nothing suspicious was found.

“Could the deceased not have been a building employee at all?” Xiao Li suddenly spoke up. “Perhaps someone impersonated a maintenance worker to get in?” This speculation gave Wang Shuai a jolt. He went back to the security room and carefully reviewed the personnel registration records for the past week, finally finding a note on the afternoon of November 14th: “System maintenance personnel, temporary pass, cancelled.”

The signature on the access pass stub was flamboyant, but the ID number was forged. Wang Shuai stared at the signature, suddenly remembering the half-finished access card in the deceased's pocket—though the specific information was unreadable, the gold foil stamping was completely different from the building's employee cards. Night fell outside the window, and the neon sign of the Haorui Building was tinged crimson by the rain. This mystery of identity and lies had only just begun to unfold.

In the security room of the Haorui Building, the old-fashioned air conditioner emitted an annoying hum. Wang Shuai and auxiliary police officer Xiao Li were huddled in front of the monitor screen, their eyes fixed on the screen. Security guard Lao Zhang was struggling to flip through the thick temporary pass registration book. The yellowed pages exuded the smell of old ink: "This is the record of all the temporary passes applied for in the past week, a total of 15 people."

Wang Shuai took the register and quickly scanned the information, circling each name, ID number, and contact information in red. "Start with the most recent ones," he said, handing the list to Xiao Li. "Verify their identities one by one, focusing on their movements from the afternoon of November 14th to the early morning of November 15th." The night outside the window grew deeper, and the city's neon lights cast dappled shadows on their faces through the blinds.

The first person they investigated was the salesman who came to the building to discuss business. When Wang Shuai dialed the number, he heard the noise of the street on the other end. "The 14th? I did go to Haorui Building and met with Manager Liu from the marketing department." The salesman's voice was tired. "You can ask him if you don't believe me. I left after we finished the business meeting and have been doing business with other companies ever since." Wang Shuai immediately contacted Manager Liu, who confirmed the salesman's statement and provided CCTV footage showing that the salesman left the building at 3 p.m.

Next came two deliverymen. Their tricycles were parked at the back entrance of the building, and they were busy sorting packages. "We came on the 14th and delivered a few documents and packages," one of the deliverymen said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "We left after that. You can check the tracking records if you don't believe me." Wang Shuai carefully checked their logistics system. Every delivery time and location was clearly traceable, and it did indeed not match the time of the incident.

When they reached the sixth person, a slight hiccup occurred. It was a technician who claimed to be there to repair network equipment; the registration information showed he had been in the building for nearly two hours. "I was indeed in the Haorui Building that day; the network on the 18th floor had a problem," the technician explained on the phone. "You can ask the staff on that floor; I've been there repairing the network." Wang Shuai found the tenant on the 18th floor, who recalled that a technician had indeed come to repair the network and even showed them a repair slip; the signature and time matched.

As the investigation deepened, time ticked by, and the chill of the early morning gradually crept in. Wang Shuai rubbed his sore eyes and dialed the next number. When they reached the tenth person, auxiliary police officer Xiao Li suddenly exclaimed, "This person's ID number is fake!" Wang Shuai's heart tightened, and he immediately ordered someone to retrieve the surveillance footage of this person. In the footage, a man wearing a baseball cap walked into the building with his head down; his face was obscured, but his build did not resemble the deceased.

They quickly found the security guard in charge of registration and inquired about the situation. "There were too many people that day, and I saw his identification was complete, so I didn't check it carefully," the guard said regretfully. "He said he was there to deliver urgent documents and left the building after less than half an hour." Wang Shuai reviewed the security footage of the man leaving the building and found that he got into a taxi after leaving. With the assistance of the transportation department, they found the taxi driver. "That man went to the train station," the driver recalled, "and urged me to drive faster, saying he needed to catch a train." The train station's security footage showed that the man did indeed board a train that evening, but his destination was completely unrelated to the crime scene.

The remaining individuals were also checked one by one. Some had come to deliver food, some to install billboards, and others to deliver flowers. Each person could provide clear proof of their whereabouts; some had CCTV footage, some had transaction records, and some had witness testimonies. By the time the last person was checked, it was already dawn.

Wang Shuai slumped into his chair, staring at the scrambled list in front of him, a sense of defeat washing over him. A whole night of investigation had revealed the whereabouts of 15 people, but none of them were connected to the deceased. Auxiliary police officer Xiao Li handed him a cold cup of coffee, smiling wryly, "Captain Wang, the trail has gone cold again." Wang Shuai took the coffee, gazing at the city gradually brightening outside the window, his eyes resolute: "It's alright. Eliminating these 15 people at least narrows our search. Since the deceased isn't one of these 15, his identity deserves even deeper investigation. Let's continue looking for breakthroughs in other directions."

Morning light pierced through the clouds, casting a dazzling glow on the glass curtain wall of the Haorui Building. Wang Shuai and Xiao Li tidied up their files, ready to begin another day of investigation. Although this investigation hadn't yielded any crucial clues, they knew the truth lay hidden in some overlooked detail, and that as long as they didn't give up, the truth would eventually come to light.

When the operating lights in the dissection room came on, the air conditioning system precisely controlled the temperature at 18°C. Zhang Kai put on his anti-fog goggles, and his rubber gloves made a soft clanging against the stainless steel dissection table. (End of Chapter)